Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb

First let me say that the previous reviewer obviously has a broken unit. The pedal functions normally in bypass mode.
The specs: One knob, one 3-way selector, one footswitch. You can figure it out in about 10 seconds. The mix knob is designed to work gradually up to 12 o'clock for traditional reverb sounds, and after that it gets DEEP quickly. Select spring, hall, or "flerb" (flanged reverb) algoryhyms. Not as easy to change sounds on the fly as MIDI presets, but with the minimal controls it's not a pain either.

GREAT for the price. The spring setting is pretty damn good for a cheap digital box, not going to replace your Fender tube reverb but it's still a lot of fun, esp. when the mix knob is cranked up. The hall sounds nice too, not really what I bought it for but I do find myself using it. Either of these settings, with the mix turned up all the way, can yield some massive MBV-style walls of sound. VERY cool. The "Flerb" setting may only be useful to those Cure fans who do a lot of crystal meth...if the modulation was adjustable independently of the reverb on this setting it would be cooler. Points off for being AC power only (wall wart at that), which may bring some unwanted noise into your signal, plus it's not true bypass.

I dunno.... I've had many EH pedals and never broken one, but their boxes do tend to get racked up pretty easily. As I mentioned before, the other reviewer's pedal wasn't even working correctly (mine was built 2 days before his, I doubt the bypass issue was a deliberate change in design!). Time will tell... At least with the adapter it can't die on you mid-song due to a drained battery (this thing would probably kill a Duracell in 45 minutes if it could take one), not a bad design in that respect.

Never dealt with them. At least they're in business again....

Overall, I am very pleased with this pedal. I own a '65 Twin Reverb which is too loud for my apartment, but this pedal was a perfect fit for my Princeton and Velocette. Whenever I change the settings it inspires me to play differently. Psych, surf, jazz, shoegazer, country...It just makes me want to keep playing, which is the mark of a good piece of gear. If you're a session ace look elsewhere, but for gigs or just practicing with a reverb-less amp it's a big thumbs-up.

This pedal is very easy to use, it has a three way switch to select between the Spring, Hall and Flerb algorithms and a good sized knob to dial in how much effect you want, and a red light to indicate status. You better hope this light is on, I'll get into that later..
Setting the knob to all the way to the left is dry and to the right is wet.
One point off for having to use the supplied 9v adaptor.

The sound quality is fantastic. It beats the crap out of the RV-3 and then rolls around on it. All three algorithms are good. Spring reverb sounds full without being hollow..the Hall reverb is deeper alibet a little more noisy past 1-2 o' clock. I usually stay below 12 o' clock anyway on all settings.. Hall and Flerb are noiser than spring at the same dial settings, so ease back a little and it is perfectly silent.
Flerb is interesting, it introduces motion into the sound, sort of like phase. Best used in moderation, but useful nonetheless. 10, easy.

I've had it for a very short while, I think it was just introduced last month into the market. I couldn't find any reviews or pictures. The lovely wooden box that it came in says Oct 19, 2001 on the bottom.
Here is the only real negative aspect of this pedal: The bypass switch turns off the entire signal. Its a mute button, really. This effect needs to be on all the time, or you will get no sound. You hope it doesn't die in the middle of a song, or you will need to take it out of the chain in a hurry.

Erp.

This pedal sounds great.
The downside is the bypass switch, however, as I mentioned earlier, you can set the reverb ammount to nothing, and it does not colour your tone. You might have to bend down. It is worth it.
Show me any other reverb pedal this good. Check out all those RV-3's on Ebay.